Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-08-05

there is in you.
There, might go on forever, but what
Is the goods Civilization is only saVagery
giIt-edged a vainglory is it, and, Ike
northern light, comes but to fade and leave
the sky more dark Out of the soil of saw
agery it has grown like tree, and, as
believe. into the soil like tree, it will
once more. sooner or later, fall again, as
the Egyptian civilization fell, as the He'll
enic civilization fell, and as the Roman
civilization and many others of which the
world has now lost count, fell also. Dc
not let me, however, be understood as de
CRYING our modern institutions, represent
ing as they do the gathered experience OF
humanity applied for the good Of all. zOf
course they have great advantages-hospi
tails, for instance; but then, remember, we
breed the sickly people that fill them. In
a savage land they do not exist. Besides,
the question will arise, how many of these
blessings are due to Christianity as dis
tinct from civilization, And so the bal
ance sways and the story runs-here
gain, there a loss, and natures great aver
age struck across the two, whereof the
sum total forms one Of the factors in that
mighty equation in which the result viii
equal the unknown quantity of her pur-
poses.
make no apology for this depression,
especially as this is an introduction, which
all young people and those who never like
to think (and il is a bad habit will natur-
ally skip 1t seems to me very desirable
that we shoula sometimes try to under
stand the limitations Of our nature, 50 that
we may not be carried away by the pride
! Of knowledge. Mans cleverness Is almost
| infinite and stretches like an elastic band;
! but human nature is like an iron ring
| You can 90 round and round it, yOu can
| polish it highly, you can even fatter it
| little on one side, whereby You can make
! il bulge out on the other: but you will
never. while the world cndUres and man is
| man. increase its total circumference. 1t
! is the one fixed, Interchangeable thing fixed
! as tho stars, more enduring than the
mountains, as unGlterable as the way Of
the eternal Human nature is Gods kai-
! CidOsCOpc; the little bits of cOlOrcd glass
! which represent our passions, hopes, fears,
! Joys, aspirations toward good md evil, and
! what not are turned in His mighty hand
| rs surely aud as certain as it turns the
stars. and continually fall into new pat
/ terms and combinations. But the compos
| Ing elements remain the same, nor will
/ there be ore more bit of c0lOred glass, nor
/ one less. for ever and ever.
/ This being so, supposing for sake Of ar
! yument. we divide ourselves into twenty
/ parts, nineteen savage and one civilized;
/ we must look to the nineteen savage por-
/ tions OF our nature, if we would rea!ly I'M
/ drrstaud ourselves, and not to the TWEEN
/ tiuth. which, though so insignificant in re
! atty. is spread all over the otherninetccn,
making them appear quites different from
what they really are; rs the backing does
| the boot or the veneer table. II is on
! the nineteen rough, serviceable, savage
| portions that we fall back in emergencies,
not on the polished but unsubst,.ltial
! twentieth Civilization should wipe away
/ our trnrs, and yet we weep and cannot be
comfortcd Warfare is abhorreut to her,
! and vet we strike out for hearth and home,
| for honor and fair fume, and can glorify in
! the blow.
| So. when the heart is stricken, and the
! head is humbled in the dust, civilization
! fails Us utterly Back, back we creep, and
! lay rs like little children on the great
! breast oG Nature that She pcrchnuce. may
! soothe US and make rs forget, or ut least
| rid remembrance Of its sting. Who has
not in his great grief felt a longing to look
upon the outward features of the univcr-
| sal mother; to lie on the mountains and
watch the clouds drive across the sky, and
! the rollers break in thunder on the shore;
! to let our poor struL Cling life muFa for a
while in her life: tD feel the SLOW D It Of
! her eternal heart, and to forget OH. woes,
and let cur Identity be Swallowed in the
! vast, impcrccptibly muyi1s energy of her
of whom we are, from whom we came and
with whom we shall "A gain b. mingled.
who gave us BIRTH and will, in n day to
! come, give us our burial also
And 50 in my great grief Us | walked up
and down the oak -pancled vestibulc of my
house there in Yorkshire, | longed once
more to throw myself into the arms of Ma
| ture, Not the nature that you know, not
! the nature that waves in well-llept woods
and smiles out in corn fields; but Nature
as she was in the age vixen creation WAS
complete, undeflcd as yet by any human
! sinks of sweltcring humanity. would go
! again where the wild game was, back to
! the land whereof none know the history,
| back TO the savages. whom love. although
! some OF them are almost rs mCrCless as
! political economy; there perhaps, | shall
| he able to learn to think Of poor Harry ly-
! ing in the churchyard, without feeling as
| though my heart would break in two.
| And now there is an end to this cgOtisti-
| cal talk and there shall lie no more of il.
! But If you whose eyes fall upon my writ
| ten thoughts have got 50 far rs this | ask
| you to pcrscveTe; since what | have to tell
| you Is not without its interest and it has
never been told before, nor will again.
CHAPTER THE coNSUL's YARN.
! \ week had passed since the death of my
| poor boy Harry and one evening was in
my room, walking up and down and think
! ing, when there came a ring at the outer
| door Going down the steps, | opened it
| myself. 1''l il came my oil friends, Sir
| Hrury CuriI, and Captain John Good, r.
\. They entered the Ncstibulc and sat
| themselves down before the wide hearth,
where remember Il particularly good fire
OF logs was burning
ut is very kind of YOU to come round, -
| said, by way Of making n remark; lit
must have been heavy walking in the
| snow"
They said nothing, but Sir Henry slowly
! filed his pipe and lit It with n burning en-
Der As he leaned forward to do So the
! fire got hold of n grassy bit of pine, and
! tlGrcd mp brightly, throwing the whole
scene into strong relief, and | thought
what Il sploudjd-looking man he was
Calm, powerful face, clCar-Cut features
| large gray eyes, yellow beard and hair
altogether a magnificent specimen Of the
higher type Of humanity Nor did his form
belize his face. | have never seen wider
shoulders or 4 deeper chest Indeed. Sir
Henry : grth is 50 great that. though he is
six feet two high, he does not strike one rs
Il tall man. As looked at him could not
I help thinking what a curious contrast my
! little dried up self presented to his grand
! face and form. Imagine to yourself a
small withercd, yellow-faced man Of
| sixty three. with thin hands, large brown
| eyes, Il head Of grjzzlcd hair. cut short and
| standing mp like a half-woru Scrubbing-
hrush-total weight. in my clothes. one
hundred and thirty-two pounds-and You
! will get Il very fair idea Of Allan Quarter
main, or by the natives "Nacumazahn
anclice'-he who keeps a bright lookout
ut night, or. in vulgar English. 4 sharp
| fellow. who is not to bc taken in.
Then there was Good, who is not like
either oi Us, being short dark, stout-rCrg
Stout-with twiuklinE black eyes, in one of
which an cyeglaSs Is everlaStinGly fixed. !
say stout but it is mild term: regret to
state that of late years Good has been run
ming to stomach in most disgraceful way.
Sir Henry tells him that it comes from
idlcnCSS and overlooking; and Good does
not like it nj all, though he cannot deny it.
We sat for while and then | got .
match and lit the lamp that stood ready ON